My first thought these two things don’t quite go together and that not necessarily have tot be the case. Religions have always used symbols and colors as part of the design. Take Buddhism as an example, the color red symbolizes lifeforce, preservation, fire, and sacred things or places. Also riddled with duality, fire can represent warmth and comfort, but can also be a destructive force.
Red is associated with the Buddha Amitabha. Throughout Tibetan culture, red is a marker of sacred areas, and a true mark of a Buddhist scared area are the simplistic, tall gates at the entrances. That’s the color that the monks are wearing. It is believed to be a protective color, like that of shamanistic wards. Green denotes youth, vigor, action (Karma), and harmony. Because it is the color at the middle of the spectrum, it is also represents balance and is associated visually with the lush trees.
And the most important color for them is yellow. Yellow is the color that possesses the highest symbolic quality because of the saffron color of the monks' robes. It was chosen as a symbol of humility and separation from materialistic society. It symbolizes renunciation and desirelessness. That’s a lot of design thinking here.
Imagine a suite of “service design” offerings designed around electronic gadgets, let’s call it "faith-on-demand", we are talking abut creative religious practice tailored to the lifestyles and needs of individuals who prefer modern than traditional taste. There are lots of innovation opportunities if we start interweaving traditional faith practices more tightly into the texture of daily life. What is the iTunes of faith looks like?
There have always a large number of not-so-well designed religious products out there designed explicitly for Christians, Buddhists, Jews and Muslims, and despite a thriving literature within visual culture studies that examines how religion happens materially. Design critics do not often write about the ways in which religion informs the design and use of products, and how the design and use of products in turn shapes religious practice.
In 2006 I.D. magazine ran a special issue titled "Design and Religion: New Forms for Faith” featured Jewish products and on houses of worship, an "Islamic cell phone” and a prayer rug whose pattern illuminated when oriented to Mecca. We have not seen any serious commercialization of these products. It is interesting if we start thinking about religion and interface.
Apply design thinking in religions can result in a lot of new faith-based innovation. I define this as products/experiences that engage faith in a modern, social and practical manner by facilitating religious practices. If we apply a little imagination and human factors thinking in traditional religious objects such as rosaries and crucifixes, prayer rugs, menorahs, and censers we can come up with lot of innovation ideas. Technology + Faith = Tons of untapped opportunities and customer unmet needs.
